


The Partnership for Partially Deceased Corrections

by slightly_oblivvyous



Series: Partnership for Partially Deceased Corrections [1]
Category: In the Flesh (TV), Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Hermann is a zombie, In The Flesh!AU, M/M, Newt is an idiot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-27
Updated: 2014-11-27
Packaged: 2018-02-27 05:02:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2680139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slightly_oblivvyous/pseuds/slightly_oblivvyous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermann has kept his Partially Deceased Syndrome hidden from everyone at the PPDC (with one exception.) His new lab partner, however, poses a problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Partnership for Partially Deceased Corrections

**Author's Note:**

> (Accompanies [this drawing](http://contrabasse.co.vu/post/103592152245/in-the-flesh-pacific-rim-au-with) by [contrabasse](contrabasse.co.vu).)

When Hermann first met Dr. Newton Geiszler, he was surprised to feel the heat of his skin even through his winter gloves. The man's arms were covered in gashes and stitches; surely he couldn't have survived whatever caused them, not while keeping his arms in—

"So, you like the tattoos?" Dr. Geiszler grinned, pushing his sleeves up to reveal more inked scars. "Oh, and check back here!" Geiszler turned and pulled his collar down in the back, revealing what looked for all the world to be a neurotriptyline port. "Almost like the real thing, huh?"

Hermann summarily dismissed any fleeting hopes of liking his new lab partner. "And what exactly is it that you do with the Partnership for Partially Deceased Correction, Dr. Geiszler?"

The smaller man seemed unfazed by Hermann's dour tone. "Well my main goal is to find a better alternative to neurotriptyline; something to actively reverse the necrosis rather than just staving it off and making the brain cravings manageable, y'know? But what I'm _really_  interested in is figuring out just what makes the Risen tick. Which would be a lot easier," he raised his voice so Pentecost could hear across the room, "if I were allowed to work with live zombies!" Hermann stiffened at the term, but Geiszler seemed not to notice. "You see, unlike most people, I hope to see one alive and rabid one day."

"Well, Dr. Geiszler—"

"Newt."

" _Dr. Geiszler,_ " Hermann said with a sharp, humourless smile, "I certainly hope you get your wish some day."

==

"No, no, absolutely not! I will not allow you to examine rabid PDS sufferers in our laboratory. It's enough that I have to share the space with your..." Hermann bit through the words, "...your stinking _corpses_ , but to allow a live rrrotter to run rabid without any protection—"

"Now I know you might not think much of me, Hermann—"

"Dr. Gottlieb."

"—but I'm not _trying_  to get myself killed here, alright, I know not to mess with the undead without proper protection. So I was thinking we could build like a cage or maybe—"

"And what about the rabid? When you're done with him, will you just put him down? I believe that's standard procedure for your lab animals."

"What? Of course not! They're not _animals_ , Hermann, they're human!"

"Do you truly believe that?" Hermann eyed Newton sharply. "Even in that state?"

"Yes!"

"Well you're _wrong_. When PDS sufferers go rabid they're like dogs — worse than dogs because they're hunting their own kind! There is no remorse, no reason, not a single shred of humanity, just one simple imperative: _FEED_. If you bring a rabid into this lab, I swear to _gott_  I will shoot it myself." As he spoke, Hermann had been advancing on Newton, getting gradually closer until the small scientist had to angle his head to look him in the eyes. Newton held his ground.

"That's cold, Hermann, even for you. Y'know I should've guessed you liked working with numbers because they don't require you to deal with messy _human_ feelings. You're so dead inside you're practically a zombie yourself!"

Hermann let out a noise that could only be described as a growl and then suddenly withdrew from Newton's space. He reached out for his cane and hobbled quickly towards the door, leaving a confused Newton with nothing more than residual rage-turned-concern and instructions to call for Tendo.

==

As soon as Hermann reached his quarters, he stripped off his ever-present gloves and parka. He hated having to wear them constantly, dulling his already limited sense of touch, but short of drawing and maintaining a physical line down the center of the room (a tempting if probably ineffective prospect), it was the only way to prevent his overly tactile lab partner from touching his skin and ruining his facade. So he kept them on and pretended to be cold, although the sensation was little more than a distant memory.

A loud knock and concerned voice announced Tendo's arrival. When Hermann bade him enter, Tendo slipped in and locked the door smoothly behind him. "Hey man, Newt called me up all panicked saying you needed to see me ASAP. You alright?"

"Do you have the neurotriptyline?" Hermann demanded.

"Right here, brother." Tendo held up a greenish bottle and shook its contents.

"Excellent. Do you mind?" Hermann turned his back and hunched over, revealing the hole between his first and third vertebrae. "I'm a bit too shaky to do it myself."

As he loaded up the injector, Tendo gave Hermann a discerning once-over. "So what happened this time doc, you miss a dose?"

"I... have been running low," Hermann answered carefully. "Late nights necessitate extra doses to keep me going..." He slumped forward when the injection of neurotriptyline hit his system. "But the real problem is my ridiculous labmate. The man is infuriating! If he's not tearing down my mathematics, he's shouting about one foolhardy plan or another and bouncing about the room with rancid entrails. He could make a _pulser_ go rabid!"

"You're not wrong about that," Tendo laughed. "I'm surprised you've made it this long without tearing Newt's head off, and not because of your PDS."

"Annoying as he may be, his brain is too valuable to wish to see it outside his skull," Hermann admitted.

Tendo began packing away the medication with a grin. "Why Dr. Gottlieb, is that an undead crush I hear?"

"Wh— Absolutely not! Dr. Geiszler is brash and insensitive and frankly a bloody idiot—"

"He certainly seems to get your blood pounding."

Hermann met Tendo's wink with a thin frown. "I'll thank you to deliver the neurotriptyline without the attempts at humour next time, Mr. Choi."

"And I'll thank _you_ to tell me you need more before you start feeling the urge to kill your lab partner."

Hermann smiled wryly as he took the neatly boxed injection kit from Tendo. "It is not the urge to _kill_ that I am worried about, Mr. Choi. But yes, I will try to remember."

==

For the next couple weeks, Newt tiptoed around Hermann as though he were made of glass. Somehow it was the least productive two weeks of Hermann's life, and eventually he snapped and dumped chalk dust into Newton's coffee just to get him shouting again. They quickly fell back into an easy rhythm, criticizing each other's work and (grudgingly, gratefully) correcting the problems, until finally...

"By jove, that's it!"

Newt nearly tripped on the edge of the dissection table in his haste to get to Hermann's side of the lab. "What's it? What's what?"

"This equation here. It finally accounts for all variables present on the night of the Rising!"

"Could it predict another one?"

"Not yet, but if we modify..."

They spent the next half hour going through Hermann's equations, tossing ideas back and forth, talking over one another, and breaking no fewer than six pieces of chalk before Hermann dropped his chalk and stepped back to see the board in its entirety. Newt stood awestruck for a moment, then spun around and grabbed Hermann by the shoulders.

"Hermann, you've done it, you're brilliant! I knew you could do it, my god, I love your brain!"

Before Hermann could react, Newt pulled him forward and pressed their lips together. As Newton's fingers slid to the back of his neck, Hermann swore he could feel his heart beat in his chest...

...and then abruptly fall still when Newt pushed him away, staring at his fingers as though they'd been burned.

"You're a zombie?"

Hermann winced. "I prefer Risen, if you must resort to slang."

"Right, Risen, sure, but you didn't _tell me_?? We've worked together for years and you didn't once think that might be relevant?"

"Why? So I could become one of your experiments?"

"No, dude, just so I'd, like, know! I mean it seems like an important thing to know about your friend. And all the questions you could have answered! Like, okay, if you call us pulsers—"

"I do not."

"But your people do. Or, uh, PDS sufferers in general do. Anyway. Does that mean you _don't_  have a pulse? Can I just—"

Hermann batted Newton's hand away from his neck irritably. "Newton..."

"Sorry, sorry. Can I ask questions though? Like, well, do you have a pulse? If you sit still for too long do your extremities go all tingly? Can you get an erection? Have you tried? Can I try? Y'know, for science?"

"Newton, please!"

"As in 'Newton, please give me a handjob for science', or...?"

"As in 'Newton, please get your hands away from my belt.'"

"What? Oh shit, sorry dude, didn't realize— shit—"

A hint of a smile appeared on Hermann's face as Newt's cheeks began to colour. "Are you certain this is purely scientific curiosity?"

"Nnnnyes? No? No it isn't, it's just, you're kinda hot, and—"

"I think you'll find I'm rather cold." The smile was now a full-blown smirk.

"That's fine too, I like you cold! I'd like you hot. Hell, I'd even like you lukewarm, you're still—" 

His rambling stopped when Hermann placed cold hands on either side of his face and whispered, "Newton, please."

"As in...?"

"Please kiss me, you bleeding idiot."


End file.
